Christmas has come early for the bank’s shareholders with the decision to slightly increase the 2024 dividend – despite a single-digit decline in the net profit and cash earnings.
Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
Age pension processing times nearly halved as red tape slashed
Age pensioners are benefitting greatly from a Services Australia initiative that has almost halved the amount of time it takes to process an application for the pension.
What previously took, on average, 84 days to process has now been reduced to 49 days – an improvement of more than 40 per cent.
Processing times are also down 35 per cent for disability support pension claims, while applications for the Commonwealth seniors health card are being processed, on average, in 18 days, a 64 per cent improvement.
The Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia says it marks a significant improvement in service delivery for older Australians, with chief executive officer Patricia Sparrow saying it is an excellent example of what can be achieved with additional government resourcing.
But she cautioned that this while this improvement was welcomed, much more remained to be done to streamline the age pension application process.
“While faster processing times are welcome news for older Australians, the application system itself remains needlessly complex. Many older Australians consistently tell us they find the application process overwhelming and difficult to understand.
“Processing speed is a welcome improvement but making the pension application process simple and accessible is equally crucial for older Australians.”
The age pension initiative is part of a broader policy initiative by the Albanese Government’s where Services Australia now delivers quarterly performance data.
Bill Shorten, the Federal Minister for Government Services, said that for the first time in the history of Services Australia, quarterly performance data will be released on a proactive and regular basis to ensure transparency and accountability to the public.
“Medicare, Centrelink and child support services are essential for families across the nation, but it’s no secret that accessing them was difficult due to lack of frontline service officers,” Shorten said.
“Our investment in 3,000 extra staff means that in recent months the first task of lancing the 1.35 million claims backlog has been achieved. Now, instead of keeping our heads above water against the huge demand, we can look to realising the full potential of Services Australia’s capability.”
The data now shows that Services Australia is not only processing claims 60 per cent faster compared with the first three months of 2024, but its call centre performance – so critical for retirees – is also heading in the right direction.
Since January, the agency has fielded nearly 37 million calls. The average wait time for Centrelink calls has dropped by seven and a half minutes and congestion messaging has been slashed by nearly 80 per cent.
“Getting on top of claims processing is vital to supporting Australians at their most vulnerable and through significant events in their life. When people know their payment such as the age pension is sorted, they can get on with their lives and don’t need to call to chase it,” Shorten said.
“I’m pleased with the progress being made but it doesn’t stop here. Publishing this data quarterly delivers on our promise for more transparency and helps the community understand the level of service being delivered.”
